Soccer Football – FIFA World Cup 2026 – Group E – Ecuador v Germany – New York/New Jersey Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S. – June 25, 2026 Ecuador’s Gonzalo Plata celebrates scoring their second goal with Moises Caicedo REUTERS/Mike Segar
EAST RUTHERFORD — Ecuador, believed by many to be the dark horses of this tournament, has pulled the rabbit out of the hat to keep their 2026 World Cup alive.
Needing a win to secure third place and a berth into the knockout stage, Gonzalo Plata scored the game-winner in the 78th minute, lifting Ecuador to a 2-1 victory over Group E winners Germany on Thursday evening at MetLife Stadium.
Four points will be enough to get Ecuador into the Round of 32 as one of the top eight third-place finishers in the group, marking just the second time in its history that it has gotten out of the group stage.
To do so, it had to dust itself off from disastrous starts all tournament. Ecuador lost its opener in the 89th minute in Philadelphia to the Ivory Coast, then drew minnows Curacao 0-0.
They then trailed two minutes in on Wednesday when Leroy Sane slotted a pass from Florian Wirtz into the bottom-left corner of the goal, putting the South Americans immediately on the brink of crashing out of the World Cup.
But hope was restored just seven minutes later when Ecuador finally found its first goal of the tournament in the ninth minute to equalize, and it is in the conversation for one of the most beautiful at this World Cup. Nilson Angulo, who plays his club soccer for Sunderland in England, curled a brilliant right-footed effort from 23 yards out into the bottom-right corner of the goal, leaving Manuel Neur no chance.
For Germany, Ecuador’s opener guaranteed a ninth-straight World Cup match in which it has conceded a goal, tying its longest streak set between the 1934 and 1954 competitions.
Germany had an early second-half penalty awarded when Joel Ordonez took down Kai Havertz in the box, but VAR wiped it away when it was deemed that Sane fouled Pedro Vite in the buildup.
Former West Ham striker, 38-year-old Enner Valencia, finally worked another chance for Ecuador in the 62nd minute, though his half volley from 25 yards out was parried away by Neuer.
Ecuador should have gotten its go-ahead goal in the 73rd minute, when miscommunication between Neur and Jonathan Tah had the German keeper out of position and Ecuador with the ball on the byline. It was worked to Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo, whose cross found the foot of Plata, but the forward skied his chance over the bar.
He made up for it in spades just five minutes later when a corner was flicked on by the head of Kevin Rodriguez, and the outstretched foot of destiny by the Flamengo forward redirected the ball into the roof of the goal, setting off mad celebrations from the Ecuadorian contingent.
As it stands, Ecuador would play the winner of Group L in the Round of 32, which currently projects to be England, on July 1. Germany would play the third-place team from Group D, currently Paraguay.
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